As an avid reader every holiday season I find my Christmas list overflowing with books. However my quest to add different and interesting titles to my list is always a difficult one that usually has me searching Google, Amazon, and Goodreads for far longer than I’d actually like to admit to any sane person. To help the search for fellow book-lovers I created a list (in no particular order) of great reads suitable for anyone’s holiday wish list. Whether you like fiction, literature, memoir or a good young adult love story, there is something for everyone!

1) All The Bright Places – Jennifer Niven

In this YA novel we meet Violet, a girl who is counting the days until she can leave her town and the death of her sister behind, and Finch, a boy who’s dreams of death are only kept at bay by his ability to see the beauty in the world. When they meet six stories up on the ledge of their high school’s bell tower, they embark on a friendship that allows each of them to see their world in new ways, but as Violet begins to see the beauty in her life, Finch begins to spiral…

This book is a quick read, but don’t let that fool you – it’s amazing. One of the most truthful and real YA novels about mental illness I’ve read. And with a plot that has you wandering around the state of Indiana with Violet and Finch as they look for beauty in the mundane you will find yourself effortlessly falling into the story and wanting more when it’s over.

2) The White Album – Joan Didion.

Didion is truly the master of non-fiction and in her book of essays you will find yourself bouncing around the state of California in the 70’s. Didion chronicles her life and the state of California in the aftermath of the 60’s. With her precise prose and air-tight narrative style she explores her life and surroundings, especially so in her title essay “The White Album” which details her own psychological difficulties along side Black Panther Party meetings, a Doors recording session, and the Manson murders.

This book is a wonderful and thought provoking read. If you love history this book of essays gives you an interesting view of the late 60’s and early 70’s through the eyes of a woman who is writing to make sense of her life.

3) This Is How You Loose Her – Junot Diaz

Diaz’s second book of short stories keeps a focus on Yunior, a reckless and irresponsible young man, and those he has touched. Stretching from the Dominican Republic to Boston to New Jersey you will learn about Yunior’s passionate desire for love that is only surpassed by his ability to make it all come crashing down. It follows the women he dates, sleeps with, and loves, but it also explores the culture of Dominican life, the hardships of love, and family all with the incredible zeal and energy in Diaz’s narrative voice.

4) Fun Home: a Family Tragicomic – Alison Bechdel

Alison Bechdel reflects on her family and her adolescence. In Fun Home the reader becomes a witness to the relationship Alison has wither father, an intelligent English teacher who obsessively restores the family’s Victorian Era home when he is not busy embalming bodies at the “fun home”. Though he is a distant father the reader learns, as Alison does, that he is a closeted homosexual who has had illicit affairs with students and babysitters. When Alison comes out as gay herself, their relationship and Alison’s interest in her father’s life comes to a surprising head.

A beautiful graphic novel and a poignant tale of a daughter trying with all she has to understand the enigma of her father. A familiar longing every person must feel about their parents in some form. The last line of this memoir will leave you wondering, as Alison does, what it all means.

5) No One Belongs Here More Than You: Stories – Miranda July

This book of short stories is… different. Each story in this collection has its own quirky tone. From stories of shared patios to the tale of a woman giving swimming lessons to elderly in a town with no pool or lake in sight - July is able to leave readers scratching their heads while also keying in on the small eccentricities that make us human. Though this book is often strange and at times down right peculiar, it will leave you wanting more of July’s unique voice.

Hope you find your match here. Happy holidays. Happy reading!